KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Few products have generated as much hype and interest as the MSI GT80 Titan Gaming laptop. Kitguru was the first major publication to cover the new laptop when we flew over to Taipei last November. LEO then got his hands on an early pre retail sample for KITGURU TV back in December. Today we present our full, in depth analysis of what can only be considered the most powerful laptop that money can buy. Add a full mechanical keyboard with Cherry switches into the mix and you have a heady combination for a gamer demanding a fully mobile form factor.
Before reading our indepth analysis today, be sure to watch LEO's early video coverage from December 2014 over HERE.
The MSI GT80 Titan will ship in various guises over the coming months and our review sample ships with some seriously high end hardware.
The GT80 Titan is powered by Intel's most powerful mobile chip – the i7 4980HQ which runs at 2.8ghz with a turbo to 4ghz. There is 32GB of DDR3 memory installed, alongside dual Nvidia GTX980M graphics cards and a 1TB 7,200 rpm storage drive. To ensure that system responsiveness is never an issue, MSI have equipped this machine with 4x 256GB Solid State Drives, running in RAID 0.
While all this high end hardware is enough to get an enthusiast gamer literally foaming at the mouth, one of the biggest talking points is the inclusion of a full mechanical Steelseries keyboard featuring Cherry switches.
This backlit board has caused much debate over the last month due to the position. The deep travel mechanical keys force the internal hardware to be pushed back inside the chassis. MSI are aware that this could be uncomfortable, so as the first image on this page highlights – they have included a gel style wrist rest as part of the package.
MSI GT80 Titan Specifications:
- OS: Windows 8.1
- CPU: Intel core i7 4980HQ (2.8Ghz – 4Ghz)
- Display: 18.4” Full HD, anti-glare LCD in LED backlight 1920×1080 16:9
- Memory Supplied: 4 x 8GB (32GB)
- Memory Type: DDR3L
- Memory Speed: 1600
- Max Memory Support: 32GB
- Graphics Chipset: Dual nVidia GeForce GTX 980M SLI
- Graphics Memory: 8GB GDDR5 x2
- Storage: 4 x 256GB M.2 SSD + 1TB 7200RPM
- Keyboard Type: SteelSeries Red backlit mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Brown Switches
- USB3.0 Ports: 5
- HDMI Port(s): 1
- Mini Display port(s): 2
- LAN Port(s): 1
- Microphone Jack(s): 1
- Headphone Jack(s) (SPDIF): 1
- Card Reader: SD (XC/HC)
- Audio: – 4.1 Sound by Dynaudio
- LAN: Killer DoubleShot Pro Gb LAN
- Wireless LAN – Killer DoubleShot Pro 11ac
- Bluetooth: V4.1
- Webcam: Full HD type (30fps@1080p)
- Warranty : 2 YR's Collect & Return (1 YR Global)
Total cost £3,499 inc vat.
do want, cant afford . . . yet 😉
btw quote: “MSI may be adding a 3k or 3k screen” 😉 4th paragraph from end
I really want this laptop! BTW, XoticPCs are selling this with SSD options allowing a choice of manufacturers and capacities. It’s hard to decide on buying now or waiting to see IF a 3K or 4K screen will be offered in the future. Good job, MSI!
Great review! Very thorough and detailed. Keep up the good job! Really gave me an idea about what this gaming laptop has to offer. It’s a really great laptop with the only downside I can think of being it’s price.
Don’t get the point of having that much graphics power without at least a 3k screen. Unless you’re doing some serious 3d rendering then it’s just so much hot air.
Don’t get the point of having that much graphics power without at least a 3k screen. Unless you’re doing some serious 3d rendering then it’s just so much hot air.
What doesn’t make sense is such a good laptop with only a 1080p screen. When will they learn?
Did you notice CPU-Z validation[1] reports wrong VRAM size?
[1] http://valid.canardpc.com/rng1v9
It’s missing the version of the benchmark software. Also, there’s no information on the SSDs models used.
Great Review…but so expensive….with mechanical keyboard is awesome
is this wide-view anti glare Display?
Wow! What a beast! Finally a laptop that really competes with the high end of the desktop market. The real downside is it’s very expensive.
A desktop with decent CPU and GTX 980 would be cheaper than this…but yeah laptops are more expensive since they need to be mobile…but lets be honest….this laptop ain’t that mobile for dat price tag.
shIT…dafuq did i just wrote 0.0
@Zardon is that HDMI port output only? No HDMI input mode? Alienware laptops from 2014 had the single HDMI port than could be run as input or output based on function key combination switches.
insane hardware but i must say im little disappointment whit screen resolution this laptop in eu cost 5k euros and screen should have at lest 1440p if not 4k
While that is true, the newest alienwares have omitted the hdmi in feature, so you cant really blame msi for not putting it in. Would have been an amazing feature to add in though.
This isnt so much as msi’s own fault, as the market for 18.4inch panels for laptops is a slowly dwindling marketspace. The current panels in the gt80 are also leftovers from the production by various companies in the past.
Yeah I heard about the change on the 2015. I don’t like a laptop smaller than 18.4″ screen size. Guess my M18X R1 is a precious model now, will be hard in the future to replace if something fails. Might have to stock up on the M18X R2 ivy bridge motherboard so I can fall back on that option since it works perfectly in the M18X R1 chassis. CPUs are more easier to come by.
Fed up with the ridiculous prices for MXM cards, for the price of two MXM top line cards I can build a ITX or Micro-ATX rig for high end gaming with sort of ‘acceptable’ mobility when I travel internationally. Just plug the HDMI output from cabinet to the laptop and I can have a gaming rig when I want it without the need for a separate monitor. The Alienware Graphics Amp is so large that getting a separate mini system makes much more sense and value. I would be willing to go the graphics AMP route if there was an 18.4″ model. 17.3″ just doesn’t cut it especially with embedded CPU and GPU. The graphics Amp is still penalized by somewhat with the 4X PCIE bus while the external cabinet option with a new system is going to be rendering on 16X PCIE 3.0 and fed out via HDMI.
Ideally I would like a simple 18.4″ laptop with no high end graphics in it, just upgradable PGA MQ processor support and HDMI input function. Am done with MGPU/dGPU laptops, MXM pricing by the cartel is untenable. MSI promises upgradeability by supplying parts but don’t be under any illusions their MXM cards will be just as expensive. The CPU is HQ BGA so it is embedded, which is a shame for a flagship laptop aimed at upgradeability.
muhteşem birşey alacam
And yet other companies are making much higher resolution laptops, say Apple.